Save Me, Partner
by B L Roth
Summary: Castle has decided that he is done shadowing Detective Beckett, and has finished their last case together. That night she gets an interesting call from a drunk Richard Castle at 4 in the morning.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Save Me, Partner**

**Disclaimer: I most definitely do not own Castle, or any of the characters. **

**Summary: Based after Beckett's secret has been revealed but Castle's has not, but not on any specific episode or anything. Castle has decided that he is done shadowing Detective Beckett, and has finished their last case together. That night she gets an interesting call from a drunk Richard Castle at 4 in the morning.**

Her phone rang from across the room. Ugh.

She sighed and lifted her big blanket, forcing herself to get out of bed. She had just gotten home at around eleven the night before after closing a big case and barely got any sleep. Speaking of which, what time was it? Glancing at the clock that shined 4:16, she assumed the call was another body.

She didn't feel like working, or talking to anyone for that matter. Her week hadn't exactly been spectacular. The case had been so difficult, and Castle had announced to her that it would be his last case with her. She had no idea why, but it hurt.

She was finally starting to open up to him and then everything just stopped. He stopped wanting to hang out, and started partnering up with the boys in lieu of tagging along everywhere she went. He even cut back on bringing her coffee. She didn't understand what had happened or what she had done.

When the case was over she hoped to get a minute to talk to him, but he was already in the elevator and sent her a lingering look before the doors slid shut. She couldn't even get it all through her mind.

She picked up the phone and answered "Beckett," groggily. However, it wasn't dispatch that answered this time.

"Beckett! Hey you, wake up! What are you doing?"

Castle's voice was all too happy and slurred on the other end, snapping Beckett's mind more awake.

"Castle? It's four in the morning, I was sleeping!" she said a little more harshly than she meant for it to come out. "What is it?"

"I was just here, and I was walking. I was walking here, and all of a sudden –Whew! You gotta, um… You need to, you need to see. Come here," Castle sounded all too excited.

Beckett looked at her phone, confused. Hadn't he just left her? What exactly was going on?

"Castle, where are you? Are you drunk?" Beckett asked into her phone. "Where are you?"

She heard a clunk on the other side and some shuffling and muffled curses until Castle picked his phone back up. "Drunk? Noooooo! I'm fi- *hiccup* – fine. I'm at the Old Haunt," he giggled over the phone. She rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see it and stood up. "I was gonna go to the Precinct and then I .. um … and then I .. you need to come save me."

Now Beckett was more alert, even though he was just laughing. "What? What happened Castle? What's going on?" she all but yelled into her phone.

"I can't .. get .. out," Castle said choppily like he was struggling with something. "Come save me Beckett! Save me, partner!"

Beckett went to grab her coat and keys, and walked out the door with her phone still pressed against her ear. "We're not partners, anymore remember? You left Castle. Yesterday was your last case."

Castle giggled into the phone again and just said, "I know, I miss you."

Kate went silent for a minute and her eyes got big. After a short time passed and the other side of the phone was just muffled noises of Castle struggling with something, Beckett replied. "Yea .. um … I'll be there in a few Castle. I'll see you then."

She hung up her phone and dropped it into the passenger seat of the car as she got in. She put on her seatbelt and just sat, staring out the windshield for a few minutes. Then she glanced over at the phone sitting in the passenger seat of her car. With one last thoughtful look she started the car.

…..

Beckett found a parking spot about two and a half blocks away from the old haunt and started to make her way down the sidewalk. Spring was starting to bloom in the city and the weather wasn't as cold as it had been even the week before, but the night still wasn't warm enough to forget the coat. By the time she made her way over to the Old Haunt her pinks were a slight pink and her hands were stuffed in her pockets.

She headed down the small set of steps and stopped before the door. She could see her own reflection on the glass in front of her.

She remembered the last time she had been here. It was with Castle and the boys after a case. It had been an exciting day and they were all winding down from everything that had happened. And Montgomery had … Oh.

Montgomery. He was here the last time she had been to the Old Haunt. It was before her world around her had collapsed and her mentor, her friend, had stood before her in that hangar. Everyone had been so happy, she almost wished she could go back. Then she would still have her real captain, instead of Gates always looking over her shoulder and disapproving. And she would still have her partner. The one that wanted to work with her every day and hadn't walked away for some reason that was beyond her.

Beckett thought that losing her mother was the worst pain that she could ever feel. She'd been injured before, and lost people. Hell, she'd been shot! But nothing hurt worse than losing someone that you care about and not knowing why. She never thought anything could ever hurt her that bad again. Until now.

That's why she had built a wall up inside in the first place. If you don't let anyone get close, you can't lose them. But she had been through so much with Castle, and she couldn't help opening herself up to him. She loved him, and he loved her back didn't he. She just didn't understand.

Then she heard a siren go off in the city street and snapped back to the here and now.

Taking one last look at her reflection, she sighed. Her eyes were puffy and red. She might not have been crying, but she had come pretty damn close. She closed her eyes for a minute and composed herself before pulling on the door.

The sign said closed and usually the door was locked, but not right now. She took a cautious step inside and looked around. The lights were off and she couldn't see anything.

Beckett stepped forward slowly with her hand over her holster. "Castle?" she called, but there wasn't an answer. She pulled out her phone and called him.

"Hi!" Castle exclaimed into the phone cheerfully.

"Castle, I'm at the Old Haunt. Where are you?"

"Oh! When did you get here? I'm in the office, come down here!"

Castle clicked off his phone before she could respond, so she just returned hers to her pocket. She opened up the secret stairwell, and made her way down to the office. Looking around the room she spotted him.

"Castle, what the hell?"

**Soooo, let me know what you think. I'll be sure to update it soon. **


	2. Chapter 2

Beckett stood in the doorway of the office of the Old Haunt, staring at Castle in awe. There he was on the floor, leaning against the bookshelf that opened into a tunnel on the other side. Next to him was a third of a bottle of scotch and an old lantern. It was bright enough so she could see him, but not enough so that she could see what exactly he was doing.

She flicked the light switch on the wall next to her and looked over to him. With one hand he was playing with a loose string on his jeans, but the other was hidden in the back of the bottom shelf.

"What are you doing down there?" Beckett asked walking over to him. "Are you stuck?"

Castle looked up at her and his face lit up. "Beckett, Beckett! I can't …. It won't … come out," he said, pulling on his arm pretty intensely between his words. After a small moment he gave up on it again and patted the ground next to him. "Come sit by me. Have some scotch," he added taking a small swig straight out of the bottle.

She'd never seen him act like this before. But then again, she'd never seen him actually drunk before. Why on earth would he be drinking now? At four in the morning? If not working with her at the Precinct with her anymore was a big enough deal to get drunk over, why didn't he just stay?

"Okay, Castle let me see it," she said getting down on her hands and knees, looking underneath the first shelf.

There was a small hole in the back of the shelf, and sure enough his arm was clear through it. She grabbed his forearm with both of her hands. Despite the chill in the basement of the old haunt, she could feel the warmth of his skin through the thin fabric of his shirt. It was kind of nice. Mentally slapping herself to focus on the situation, she tightened her grip and gave it a small tug. Nothing, it wouldn't even budge.

"How did this even happen?" she wondered, turning to face him. He was sitting close enough that their faces were only inches apart. She scooted back a bit and pointed at his arm, directing his gaze to keep him on task.

He brought his gaze back up to her face again and looked at her with smiling eyes. "Did you see what happened?" he asked her wriggling his stuck arm as much as it possibly would in front of her. "The doorway, the shelf – cuz the shelf is a doorway- it wouldn't open. I tried, and I couldn't get it. So I … um … and then I just … I kicked it. Look it hurt my toe."

She looked down at his feet to find one of his feet without a shoe on it. He wiggled his toes around and struggled for a minute bringing his foot up to his hand so he could show her up close. She couldn't see anything wrong with it, but maybe it just hurt when he kicked straight through a bookshelf.

"Kiss it!" he whined wiggling his foot in front of her.

"What?" Kate asked looking at his face to see if he was serious. Even in his drunken bliss, he looked serious and what he had just insisted. "I will not kiss your foot."

"But it hurts! Kate, kiss it pleeeasssse," he begged her, sending her puppy dog eyes.

Oh God, not puppy dog eyes. Kate looked into his face and found it so hard to resist. She contemplated herself for a minute, then looked down at his foot wiggling in front of her. Wait, what? Had she really just contemplated kissing his foot? This was ridiculous.

"Not going to happen," she said nudging his foot away from her. "Where is your shoe? I'll go get it for you."

Now he just sighed. "Over there."

"Over where?" she asked him, looking around the room. It wasn't anywhere that she could see.

"Over therrrre," he said with a hint of impatience and glanced at the bookshelf.

"You don't mean … ?" she asked pointing at his hand stuck in the bookshelf. He sent her a slow nod with a serious face and wide eyes. "How the hell did that happen?"

"It came off. I kicked it and my foot, it went right through. So I pulled out *giggles*, I mean I pulled it out. But my foot … I mean my shoe …. My shoe stayed over there. I reached in there to get it, but now I can't get out!"

If Kate wasn't so upset with him at the moment, this would actually be kind of funny. But she was. He had left her high and dry just earlier that day, and now was pulling this stunt at four in the morning. And he said he'd wanted to go to the Precinct. Maybe he'd forgotten something. Thinking about that just reminded her how much she wanted him to stay. It was a little touching that she was the one he relied on enough to call, though.

It was her turn to sigh, and she leaned down to get another look at his arm. While she was looking at it trying to think of what to do next he started to play with the ends of her hair, making sound effects while he swooshed it around.

Kate got frustrated quickly enough and looked over at him. "Come on, stop it Castle. Do you want to get out of her or not?"

Castle just made a pout face and turned back to the loose string on his jeans. Meanwhile, Kate spent the next twenty minutes trying to pull, shimmy or jerk his arm out with no luck. Giving up at that, she started examining it more closely, and realized something.

"Hold on a minute," she said reaching behind her to tap his shoulder even though he wasn't paying even a little bit of attention. "I think it's just your shirt that stuck, not your arm."

That got his attention, and he shot up a little bit. Looking over at her, his only reply was, "What?"

"Castle take your shirt off," she ordered.

"And how do I know you don't just wanna see me without a shirt?" Castle asked her with a smirk.

She let out a snort and rolled her eyes. "Come on, you're just drunk. Take it off and we can get your arm out. Aren't you tired?"

"Suuuuuuuurrrrreeee," Castle let out and looked down to his shirt. He stared at her while he undid his buttons with the same smirk planted on his face. All Beckett could do was roll her eyes again.

Once all of the buttons were undone, Castle bit his left sleeve and tried to get his free arm out of his shirt. He struggled with it and grunted. Beckett couldn't help but let out a small laugh at his attempt. She gave in, though, and leaned closer to him to help him out of his shirt. Then she held his right sleeve still while he pulled his arm free from the shelf.

Letting out a breath of relief, Castle massaged his own wrist. All of that tugging had hurt his wrist a little bit. Kate stood up and grabbed his hand, planting her feet to help hoist him up. She let him go when he was finally on his feet and he hovered around a little bit before slumping over against the wall. He automatically lifted his hands to his head. Apparently he had started to feel the effect of two thirds of a bottle of scotch.

Kate stepped forward and looked at him. There he was leaning against the wall in the basement of the old haunt. His hair was slightly messed and he had a little bit of stubble. His arms were lifted up to his head causing his biceps to flex slightly, and his chest was big and muscular. All he had on was a dark pair of jeans and the one shoe.

Kate bit her bottom lip, taking it in for a short minute. She had to admit he looked good. Then when he looked at her, her eyes shot up to his face a little too quickly. "Right .. so um … let me just get your shirt."

She got back onto her knees and reached her own smaller arm into the hole in the back of the bookshelf. Sure enough his shirt was caught on a nail in the back of the bookshelf, and she lifted it loose. It showed how much money he spent on his nice clothes, the seam didn't even rip when they had been pulling on it all night.

She reached into the hole in the bookshelf one more time to get his shoe before she stood up. Looking over at Castle, she gave him a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Well, looks like you're free."

"Yea I guess I am," he replied giving her a genuine smile.

Kate knew it was a good thing, but it meant that it was time for her to go home. This would be the last she saw of her partner. She wasn't ready to accept that. "Castle, I need to ask you something." That caught his attention and he listened to her more intently. "What did I do? Why don't you want to work with me anymore?"

**That's where I'm going to end this chapter. I had a lot of fun writing it. Thanks guys for the comments and follows and whatnot. I'll update again soon so I don't leave you all hanging.**


	3. Chapter 3

Beckett could see that her question itself had hit Castle like a ton of bricks. His eyes got wide and filled with emotion as he looked at her standing in front of him. She didn't understand what could've caused the pain she saw in them, when she was the one being left behind. How had this happened? Thinking back over the last couple of weeks that they had started to grow apart, she couldn't think of anything that could cause the pain that was now behind those intense blue eyes. It was hard to look at.

Castle's eyes flicked down from his intense gaze and he said, "I just can't," with a small and strained voice. He took the shoe Beckett hadn't even realized she was still holding out to him and turned around.

"Wait," she called as he stumbled over to a seat on the other side of the room and sat down. He didn't even look at her. As he shoved his shoe on, not even bothering to tie it, she slowly made her way over to where he was sitting. She sat down next to him and waited until he looked in her direction to hold out his shirt to him.

Castle barely spared her a glance when he grabbed his shirt from her hands and stood up. He shrugged one sleeve on and reached around his back to get the other. When he seemed to have trouble reaching it and was waving his arm behind his back trying to grab at it, Beckett was amazed he was still standing by the way he was spinning and stumbling around. She'd told him before that when it came to drinking, she could take him, but maybe not.

This night was not what she had expected when she heard her phone ring at four in the morning. Now it was almost six, and Castle's drunk bliss had turned into grief and anger. Beckett stood up and walked over to him yet again. She wouldn't let him walk away from her. She grabbed his shoulder to spin him around to face her, stepping up close to him. Reaching around him she grabbed the free sleeve of his shirt hanging over his back and lifted it up to help him into his shirt. She didn't start speaking again until she started with the buttons on his shirt.

When she had gotten halfway through, Castle stopped her by pushing her hands away from his shirt and trying to finish the buttons himself. When his fingers fumbled over the small buttons and he couldn't get them to go through the fabric, he gave up and stumbled toward the staircase.

Beckett grabbed his hand so that he would turn to look her in the eyes. "Rick please," she pleaded. "Why are you doing this? Don't tell me it's nothing, that there's nothing wrong. I don't know what I did, but I can tell when something's wrong. You can't just pretend like this is all okay –"

Castle cut her off with a serious look. "Why not? Isn't that what you're doing? Pretending?" His voice was rough and emotional, and Beckett suddenly knew where this was going.

She swallowed the big lump in her throat and willed herself to reply. "Castle, I didn't—"

"Didn't what?" he cut her off again. "Why didn't you just tell me you remembered?" he asked her looking into her eyes. His voice had gotten smaller again and now it was clear to her how much he had been hurting. "I just … I love you. If you think that I couldn't handle it, you're wrong. I get it… you don't feel the same way! You didn't –"

Now it was her turn to cut him off. She put her hand up to his mouth and just looked into his eyes. "Rick.."

Her stomach fluttered and heart practically leaped out of her chest. It had been almost an entire year since that day in the cemetery, and she could still see everything as clear as day. She could still smell the grass that had just been cut and taste her own blood. She could still feel Castle laying over her on the ground and hear him speaking those words to her.

When she shut Castle out over the summer, it was because she needed time. She couldn't just get over everything. How could she possibly put herself into a relationship when all she could focus on wasn't over yet? She was so driven by her mother's murder, and the new leads that they had gotten in the past year were big.

Then when the leads disappeared and they put the investigation away, she was able to see what was in front of her more clearly. She was able to work towards putting it all behind her and opening herself up to a new future. Thinking about the future she could have made the past seem so long ago. Now, she was standing in the basement of the Old Haunt with Castle, and he was opening his heart up to her once again.

She was overcome with a feeling of joy, and it spread all the way down to her toes. So that's why he had wanted to leave? He had thought that she didn't feel the same way. _Men._ For someone who could read people so well, he wasn't doing a very good job on her.

Beckett broke herself from her thoughts and looked back to his face again. She expected to see a reflection of the happiness she was feeling, or hope, or something. Castle still had a pained look on his face and wonder his eyes. "What is it?"

"You're so extraordinary, Kate. I love you," he said with his words still slightly slurred from all the drinking he had done that night, but he still looked hurt. "Why don't you love me?" he asked almost knocking her off her feet with the loaded question.

Beckett stepped closer to him and looked into his face. "For being so smart, you sure are dumb sometimes," she told him, and his face flashed with acceptance as he looked down and started to step back. She touched her hand to his cheek to stop him and lifted his gaze back up to hers. "Let me finish. You sure are dumb sometimes, if you don't think I feel the same way."

Castle's breath hitched and his jaw slightly fell open. Looking at her now he could see the joy on her face. Before he could respond to her, she stepped up and grabbed the collar of his shirt. She pulled on it and dragged him down for a searing kiss.

**Okay, so I wasn't going to update today with 'Always' coming up. But I had to get the words down while my idea for this chapter was fresh. I know it was an intense one, but I hope you all liked where I went with his reaction to her secret. I've read some fics where the secrets come out and I didn't feel like they were dealt with the right way. I hope I did it justice. I'll probably be updating "How About A Romance?" again before I write the next chapter here so it could be two or three days, but I will don't worry. **


	4. Chapter 4

The kiss was hot and demanding, and she didn't even care that she could practically taste the alcohol on his breath. However she gently pulled away when his hands came up to her hips and brought her even closer to him. She rested her forehead against his and saw the wonder in his eyes.

"Come on," she whispered to him even though they were the only ones in the room and placed a softer more heartfelt kiss on his lips. "Let's get you home."

She grabbed his hand and led him up the stairs, ready to do just that.

…..

Castle didn't let go of her hand in car, in the elevator, or even when they reached the front door of the loft. He opened the door and stumbled in, tugging her in after. He led her to his room and closed the door after them, and turned around to face her and gave her a mischievous smile. But when he came close enough to her to give her a kiss she just put a hand over his lips.

Shaking her head slightly, she looked into his eyes. "We can't, not like this. You're still drunk Rick."

Beckett led him over to the closet and helped him out of his now crinkled shirt and pants, getting him into some pajamas. When he sat on the side of the bed she leaned over him and gave him a soft smile. "I'll be back her another time, I promise," she said giving him a small kiss. "I love you."

When she turned to walk out the door, she heard him call, "Wait! Please don't leave."

Looking back at him, Beckett could still see the worry on his face. How could he still be worried? She loved him, she would always come back. She walked over to the other side of his big bed and took her slid her shoes off her feet. Scooting over to lay next to him, she rested her head on his shoulder and hand over his heart.

"Kate, I need to .." Castle had started to speak but she had put a finger over his lips.

"Shh … just go to sleep now." She whispered and started to drift off herself.

Right before sleep fell over her she heard him say "I love you, too." A smile bloomed across her face as she fell into the most peaceful slumber she'd had in weeks.

**Okay so this is the end. I know it's really short, but I like where I ended it. In case anyone didn't catch on, the reason he was still worried in the end here is because he is still the one with a secret, and she doesn't know about it yet. I didn't want to go into it in this story, but I'm thinking about writing a follow up for it. If that's something anyone would be interested let me know. How'd you like it?**


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